Sunday, January 30, 2011

FOOT: Little Brother Post

Personally, I'm unsure of how I feel about Little Brother as of now. I'm still in the process of reading it, but I cannot decide if I like the text or not. The text and the issues presented in the text can be great conversation starters. Yesterday evening, I was in the car driving back from babysitting with Connor and attempting to help a 2 year old learn the alphabet when I started talking to him about Little Brother because we were on the turnpike and using an EZpass. Over the summer at work, we had discussed how whoever is in charge of the EZpass information could tell if we were speeding based on the times you passed through the readers. Last night, I was telling Connor about how in the book, they were using the EZpass-like devices to find out where everyone is at all times. This then started a 30 minute long conversation about how far can and should the government go with invasion of privacy. If that was a theme for a unit in class, this could totally be a book to use.

As for the actual story itself, it took me a while to "get into" the text. There was a lot of technology terminology that I was unfamiliar with. Luckily, most of it was defined in the text but since I had no prior interest in the topic of technology, it was harder to get into. One piece I did find entertaining was when Marcus said he was a LARPer. Wikipedia has a fairly accurate description of what LARPing is. Here is a link to Larp.com for more info and a video about larping.




I also tried to find the Kent State LARPers on the Center for Student Involvement website but the only thing I could really find was the Evil Geniuses for a Better Tomorrow club.
What Is LARPing? - Watch more Funny Videos

1 comment:

  1. I'm starting to agree with you in being unsure about Little Brother. Although I think the plot is very creative, the language is starting become a pain for me to read. Things with a technology base struggle to hold my attention.

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